B&L names industry veteran as president and CFO

By MOLLY CAPPOTELLI - 2/26/2013 2:52:53 PM

Bausch & Lomb Inc. has named a veteran pharmaceutical company executive as its new president and chief financial officer, effective immediately.

Robert Bertolini will oversee the eye-care company’s finance, information technology, and global quality and operations functions. He reports to CEO Brent Saunders, who previously held the president title. Bertolini assumes CFO responsibilities from Brian Harris, who took the role in March 2009.

“Bob Bertolini’s extensive strategic, operational and transformative leadership experience as a CFO of one of the world’s leading publicly traded health care companies will enable Bausch & Lomb to further unlock our potential and accelerate our performance,” Saunders said in a statement. “I’ve had the opportunity to work closely with Bob over many years. We are gratified to have an executive of his caliber join our team at this pivotal period in our history.”

The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg reported in December the company had hired investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to explore a sale after receiving informal expressions of interest from several large health care companies. Warburg Pincus now is interviewing banks for an initial public offering of Bausch & Lomb after an effort to sell the eye-care company resulted in disappointing bids, Bloomberg reported this week citing unnamed sources.

Bertolini previously was executive vice president and chief financial officer at Schering-Plough Corp. from 2003 until its merger with Merck & Co. in 2009. Bertolini also spent 20 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, where he held positions of increasing responsibility, ultimately becoming partner and leading the Global Pharmaceutical Industry practice.

Saunders thanked Harris for his outstanding service.

“As a result of Brian’s great work, we’re exploring the possibility of having him take on a different senior leadership role at Bausch & Lomb,” Saunders said.